His Captive Mortal (3 page)

Now magic had largely faded from use, and finding a cure had become more and more improbable. Although after his online research, he wondered if he’d been looking in the wrong quarters, because clearly healers must be out there if they wrote the books. Still, for some reason, he believed Sasha, untrained though she may be, held the key to his cure.

He felt more optimistic than he had in a century. Perhaps he had just been without hope for so long that even the faintest glimmer—a young mortal able to put up a force field—thrilled him.

His internal alarm alerted him to the coming dawn, his body becoming twitchy, the natural urge to go underground as fundamental as the instinct to feed. He materialized in Sasha’s bedroom, bringing the plywood for her windows with him. As he expected, she woke at the sound of the first nail being hammered, sitting up in bed with her copper hair spilling in all directions, face flushed with sleep.

She leaped out of the bed, her head whipping right and left as she took in the scene. He admired her reaction. No screaming and pulling the sheet up to her chin like he pictured. No. This girl mobilized like a warrior preparing for battle. He’d needed her awake, but now he regretted sending her into overdrive.

Their eyes locked and he sent his hypnotic suggestions, first calming her physiological reactions, then programming her not to touch the window coverings, and to stay locked in the duplex, not leaving until he gave her permission Finally, he planted the directive that she must protect him at all times from light and avoid all sharp wooden objects.

She looked unnerved. “What did you just do?” she asked, a slight quaver to her voice, which she counteracted with her customary bravado—in this case, a glower.

“Shh,” he murmured, surprised at the guilt permeating his gut. He normally had no compunction about manipulating mortals to get his way. With his little fairy, though, it seemed unfair, like he ought to win her loyalty fair and square. “Go back to sleep, love,” he said, erasing her memory of the event and sending her into a pleasant dream. He traced to her side to catch her as she fell, settling her on the bed and drawing the sheet up to cover her.

She looked angelic, her lips forming a pretty bow, her golden skin glowing. He bent and kissed her forehead, a foreign protective urge creeping up in him. He would have to be careful with this one. It seemed little fairies were his weakness.

Chapter Two

She woke to a blissful dream. She remembered nothing of it, but the feeling had been magical—she’d felt safe and loved. Not her usual state of being by any means. She hadn’t had a traumatic childhood, but she’d been on her own, at least emotionally, for most of her life. Her mom had been a single parent who struggled with making ends meet, getting ahead in a crappy career and her own dating life, which hadn’t been particularly rewarding. She and her brother had been latchkey kids and she’d been supporting herself since the day she graduated from high school.

She kept her eyes closed, wanting to stay in the lovely feeling. Memories of the night returned with a jolt—the vampire and the spanking. And the kiss. Rather than throw her out of her pleasant mindset, they filled her with a delicious sexual awareness, her entire body tingling in memory of being handled. Though her logical mind screamed danger, her body had no interest in caution where that very sexy male was concerned.

She tossed one leg over a pillow, undulating her pelvis to create friction against her mound. The cushion provided exactly what she needed, fitting between her legs, hard and firm. She rubbed herself against it, drifting in the delicious place between sleep and awakening, heat burgeoning as the hard pillow rubbed over her clit—

Hard pillow? Her eyes flew open and she drew in a sharp breath.

Beside her lay the vampire, grinning sleepily and reaching to cup her ass, which lay sprawled over his thigh. She’d been grinding on him, her folds slickened and plump, dripping wet.

She yanked her leg off and rolled away, leaping off the bed. “What the—”

“I’m going to sleep a while longer, but you are welcome to hump me all you want,” he said in a dream-thickened voice.

“What are you doing in my bed?” she demanded, but his eyes had already slipped closed again. Sprawled on her mattress with his shirt off, his lean muscle gave a masculine chest and arms the visage of a Greek statue. He lay on top of the covers and she still wore her pajamas—that was a good thing. He hadn’t had his way with her while she slept. Although the thought tweaked her already ennervated core.

What time was it? She peered at the clock and then gasped when she realized why it didn’t seem like ten in the morning—her windows were boarded over with plywood.

“What the—?”

Well, of course, the vampire couldn’t be out in daylight, and he’d declared his intent to stick with her until she removed his curse. She frowned. Just because light harmed him didn’t mean she didn’t need it. She was the type who got depressed on cloudy days. Living in Arizona had been a cure, of sorts.

Well, she could always work in the garden or go for a walk. She padded out to the living room to see, not surprisingly, every window sported the same covering. Damn him.

She thought about tearing some of it down, but her skin got prickly and the idea disgusted her. Of course she wouldn’t remove it—he would die. And while she’d tried to kill him the night before, she didn’t really want to end his life now.

She eyed him sleeping as she headed toward the bathroom. How had she not noticed him climbing in bed with her? Or nailing boards to her windows? The idea disturbed her. And what about those incredible dreams? Had he given them to her? Perhaps to make her sleep through it all? What if he had molested her in the night?

She rushed in the bathroom and locked the door, pulling off her pants to finger her sex, not trusting her own sense of things down there. She almost groaned at the prod of her own fingers, the sensitive pleats already engorged from her shameless masturbation on his leg. Her face burned at the memory. Dear God, how would she face the man—er, vampire after that display?

Her pussy did not feel sore or stretched. So he hadn’t violated her during the night. It took great willpower, but she withdrew her fingers and climbed in the shower, keeping the water cool to clear her head. She needed to wrap her mind around her current situation. She had a live-in vampire roommate who wanted something she didn’t know how to give him. Fantastic.

How the hell would she get herself out of this mess?

She stepped out of the shower and dried off, wishing she‘d brought her change of clothes into the bathroom with her. Wrapping the towel under her armpits, she peeked out of the door to make sure the vampire still slept. Seeing his eyes still closed, she tiptoed out and snatched a pair of shorts and a tank top, putting them on speed-dresser style, like she did at the department store when she had brought ten items to a changing room and had fourteen more in waiting.

Picking up her hairbrush, she walked out to the living room, dismayed by the darkness of the place without the windows. She would actually have to turn on the lights during the day. She sighed with exasperation and entered the kitchen, flipping on the light and pouring herself a bowl of cereal. She ate in a sort of stupor, her brain short-circuiting on the vampire part every time. How long would he be here? Did she really have special power? She tried to remember where she’d learn to put the bubble of protection around herself, but came up short. Seemed like she’d always done things like that. She figured it was just a quirk of hers left over from childhood, like kissing her hand and hitting the ceiling of the car when she ran through a red light. Which she didn’t do these days, since she had no car.

She just needed to get outside to her garden. Watering, pulling weeds and tending her vegetables always helped her sort through her thoughts. She stood and washed her bowl in the sink, setting it in the drying rack. Walking to the front door, she reached for the handle and then stopped, changing her mind.

Maybe she should check her email first. She sat down at her computer, then started for the door again, once more changing her mind. The third time it happened, she stopped herself as she turned away from the door, freezing.

Slowly, she reached her hand out to grasp the knob, her fingers trembling slightly at the thought in her mind. All her instincts screamed to snatch her hand away, but she pushed forward, half-expecting the door to burst into flames when she touched it. Her hand arrived, but she literally could not make herself turn the knob.

She swallowed, her temples throbbing from the exertion of will.

Open it, she gritted aloud. Open the damn door.

“What did you do to me?”

He woke to Sasha climbing up over him, straddling his waist. His fangs shot out before he’d even opened his eyes. He grasped her hips and pushed her further down his body so her core rested directly over his hardened cock. Her heat brought a shock of pleasure and he closed his eyes again.

“Stop it!” she said, wriggling against his hold. She caught sight of his lengthened canines and her eyes widened.

He found her struggles amusing, her warmth and gyrations only increasing his hard-on. “Calm yourself, love,” he counseled. “When you fight, it just excites me.”

She made an indignant sound, but immediately stilled. “Let me go,” she said, breathing hard.

He reluctantly released her hips and interlaced his fingers behind his head.

She dismounted, wisely scrambling out of his reach. “What did you do to me?” she repeated, still eying his fangs.

They retracted as she watched. “What do you mean?”

She stood quite still, her chest still heaving. “Why did your fangs get long?” she asked, her voice no more than a whisper.

He sat up and swung his legs to the floor. “I wasn’t going to suck your blood,” he said in a bored tone, padding past her to the bathroom where he splashed water on his face.

“Are you...hungry?” she asked, trailing behind.

“No,” he said shortly. “I was aroused. Feeding satisfies a sexual urge in addition to providing nourishment.” The truth was, he probably did need to feed soon, it had been a couple weeks since he’d had any blood, but he didn’t need to scare her.

“Oh,” she said.

He glanced over to see her nipples protruding through her bra and tank top. He inhaled, breathing in her scent, longing to grasp her breasts and knead them possessively, pinching her nipples into points. He wrenched his thoughts from her perfect anatomy. Staying with the little fairy might be as much torture to him as he intended to inflict upon her. Drying his hands and face on the towel, he sauntered up to her, eying the vein at her throat. “Are you going to let me taste you, Sasha?” he purred.

She took a quick step backward. “No!” she said, her voice pitched higher than usual.

He smiled.

She drew herself up, her hands balled into fists at her sides. “I can’t open the front door,” she said.

“I know.”

“What did you do to me? Vampire hypnosis?”

“Yes,” he admitted, knowing it would probably enrage her. “I couldn’t take the chance you would open the door and let sunlight in while I slept.”

Her shoulders lowered and the fists unclenched, as if his argument held some merit with her. “Oh.”

He was surprised to find her reasonable. She might be more easygoing than she let on. He walked past her into the kitchen to rummage through her refrigerator for something to eat.

“Well, you might have just left a note or something instead,” she said, following him.

He turned and lifted his eyebrows. “After what you tried to do to me last night?”

She looked genuinely ashamed. “Well…”

“Well, what?”

She said nothing for a while, just stood and watched as he searched her refrigerator and found nothing worth eating, then resorted to the box of cereal she’d left on the counter.

“Did you give me the dreams?”

He remembered the way she’d been rocking her pelvis over his thigh when she woke and smiled. He’d felt the dampness of her arousal through her pajama pants, and now, fully awake, he wished he’d helped her come. He couldn’t wait for a repeat of that scene. “What were you dreaming about, anyway?”

She flushed and the smell of her arousal bloomed, making him want to forget the cereal and carry her off to the bed to ravish her naked body until she screamed. “Nothing! I don’t know…”

He let her squirm a bit more under his scrutiny and then confessed, ”I didn’t wish to wake you with my hammering, so I suggested you fall into sweet dreams...literally.”

She nibbled her lip as she digested that.

“Were they?”

“What?”

“Sweet?”

“Oh...um. Yeah.”

He could tell she was torn between being pissed off about his manipulation and appreciating the gesture.

“Don’t do it again,” she said, although she lacked conviction.

He ignored her, returning to his cereal.

“Did you hear me, Vampire?”

“Charlie,” he corrected her. “Charles Edward Holbrook, the third. Come over here.”

She hesitated a beat, then walked to him. He hadn’t expected her instant obedience and it pleased him. He turned in his chair and pulled her to stand between his knees. “Who gives the orders around here?” he questioned softly.

Her brows lifted. “What?”

“I said, who gives the orders around here, you or I?”

She kicked up her chin, arriving at his meaning. “Go to hell.”

He made a tsking sound, flipping her over his knees and delivering a quick flurry of spanks.

“You like spanking, don’t you?” she cried, wriggling over his lap. “You’re a sadist. Why am I always getting spanked?”

“Because, my dear, you’re lower on the food chain,” he said, chuckling.

“Ack,” she cried, squirming. “Ah...stop, dammit!”

To give her a taste of vampire strength, he lifted her entire body from his knees and spun her in the air to place her on her feet. He pulled her shirt off over her head.